Japan

Japan runs two hotel traditions in parallel and rarely mixes them. In Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka the international houses occupy the upper floors of office towers, so a room on the 45th floor with a view of the Imperial Palace gardens is normal rather than remarkable. Design hotels have followed in Kyoto's machiya districts and in the backstreets of Shibuya and Ginza. Outside the cities the ryokan takes over: tatami rooms, a kaiseki dinner served in the room or a private dining room, and an onsen bath fed by a hot spring. Many of the best have fewer than twenty rooms.

Spring cherry blossom and November foliage are the crowded weeks. Insiders book the ryokan first and build the trip around it, arrive by mid afternoon to use the bath before dinner, and travel in June or late January, when the mountain inns are quiet and the snow makes the outdoor baths worth the journey.